Fiery Foods: Habaneros Revisited
Cooking With Habanero Chiles
by Eleanor Bradshaw
Until just a few short weeks ago, my experience with the habanero
chile was strictly third hand. And I didn't mind keeping it that way,
really, since I had it in my head that the super-hot chile phenomenon
was more or less a macho, are-you-tough-enough-to-eat-what-I-eat kind of
thing.
The habanero (it means "from Havana"), we know, is reputedly 30 to 50
times hotter than the jalapeo. Now, I am really fond of jalapeos. I
love their flavor and their heat (eat a whole, pickled jalapeo, and
your mouth will sing). But I could not imagine anything 50 times as hot
as a jalapeo. These little lantern-shaped chiles, the books tell me,
have a wonderful, distinctive flavor with tropical fruit tones and that
the ripe habanero is even sweeter with a more developed fruitiness.
Yeah, right. And Jolly Rancher is adding a habanero candy to their
mix.
Clearly, I didn't buy the "tropical fruit tones" business, and just
decided that I could live the rest of my life without first-hand
knowledge of habaneros.
Recently, however, I attended the Chile Fever Festival in San Antonio.
As a matter of fact, Texas Cooking had a booth at the show and, anyone
who knows anything about trade shows knows that time can hang heavy on
your hands during the slow hours. So there was plenty of opportunity to
visit the food booths and sample the wares.
What I discovered is this: That incredible flavor does exist. And it
is possible to savor it without doing damage to the inside of your
mouth. The key word is proportion.
Habaneros seem to pair very well with foods containing fruit. I very
gingerly tried some Habanero-Peach Preserves from the Cibolo Junction
Food & Spice Co., Albuquerque, New Mexico (800)683-9628. The first
flavor my taste buds discerned was peachy and sweet. Very nice. [One
Mississippi. Two Mississippi.] Then it blew through me like wind off
an Amarillo parking lot in August and, strangely enough, I don't mean
that in an unpleasant way. Yes, there was some spicy heat there (the
mouth sings!), but there was also an almost tangible warmth that was as
much felt as tasted. Sounds pretty dramatic for just a little bite of
preserves, right?
Well, I was impressed. And I not only went on to try out many foods
containing habaneros (Salsa Gold, for instance, from the Prima Group,
Inc., San Antonio, Texas (210)271-9294), but I started working on some
recipes, as well.
The first recipe, Habanero-Peach Glazed Ham, calls for the same
preserves I tasted in San Antonio, and I have included contact
information in case your store doesn't carry them. The second recipe,
Black Beans Habanero, is a wonderful melange of vegetables and spices.
If you are timid, as I was, about these chiles, start out by using half
the quantity called for in the recipe.
And if you are curious as to just how hot habaneros really are, cut just
the tiniest sliver from a habanero and put it on your tongue. Your
curiosity will be satisfied, but not your appetite for these flavorful
chiles.
As always, be very careful when handling habaneros. My strong
recommendation is that you use surgical gloves from the drugstore and,
whatever you do, do not touch your eyes or anywhere else on your or
anybody else's face while working with these chiles.
And remember, dairy products, not water, will turn off the habanero heat
more quickly than anything else, especially milk, sour cream or cream
cheese.
You may go directly to the recipes in Grandma's Cookbook:
end article
ORDER UP DELICIOUS STEAKS, POULTRY & SEAFOOD FROM 5-STAR RESTAURANTS